Fireproof material



May 23, 1933-E E. SCHMIDT 1,910,127

FIREPROOF MATERIAL Filed July 6. 1932 Patented May 23, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT-.Ormes ms'r scmnn'r, or' nANzIG-mnarunn, ramic'rY or nANzIG FIBEPBOOF 'MATERIAL Application mea .my e, issaseni no. 631,112, and 1n ycienmmy september so, 1930.

The cause of many lconiiagrations'is that combustible organic substances, such as cot,- ton, wood, cork, peat and the like become ignited in some way and then smoulder on 5 until` at last an open fire results. rrhs smouldering may last for a long time and spread extensively in the material. The oxygen contained in the pores of. the material is frequently sulicient to maintain the same in smoulderin condition so that the dangerv is not avoi ed even,when the exterior air is entirely excluded. Especially dan erous are the materials made of cork or anot er material which are found in Warshi s, life-saving boats, iloats of airplanes an the like and serve to increase buoyancy. Another example are or anic insulating materials such as are emp oyed .for protection against losses of heat or cold or against the transmission of sound. For instance, in a plipe insulation for steam, hot water or reigerating liquids, a fire can proceed for long distances along the'pipe line simply by the continuous smoulderin of the fire Within the insulation. Somet ing similar may be said of wood and or anic insulating materials such as are emp oyed for increasing the. heat-resistance of structural parts;

Naval constructors have tried to subdivide ancy by filling theml into containers made of sheet metal, but this' involves p. very considerable increase' of weight and the cost of 4such containers is considerable. The subdimable substances b means of fast or removable partition wal s made kof metal for Uimpeding the extension' of fires is also known.

o The present inventionimpedes the extenorganic substances used for increasing buoyv vision 'of maritime cargo-rooms 'for infiamsion of the seat of the fire by. subdividing the combustible organic `substances by meansof' which have, for instance, the thickness of about 0.2 mm. down to a few thousandths of millimetres and canv be folded and'A wound around with the hand likev paper Without the need of special means. l

The fire-checking 4effect of these tissues andfoils rests upon the high -heat conductivity of the metals. If the smouldering reaches the heat Wellconducting metal surface, the heat is s read by the metal overa larger area an the .temperature is reducedl to such an extent that 'the combustion is. stop ed at the metal surface'and does not extend) to the material f at theother side of the metal surface. The weight of the thin metal Ytissue orl metal foils l y is 'so small'that, for instance, in the case of floating bodies, no' essential 'diminution of the carrying capacity is. involved, and, in

the' case of .insulations, the heat-resistance 70| is'scarcely'impaired. 'I'he process can be applied 'y in such a vnl'an'ne'r that the individual parts; of the combustible material are wrapped with metalftissues or foils soA that they are boderedbyT metal surfaces on all 75 sides or at least at'thos'e'placesrwhere'they come" into contact with l adjacent material being inclined to. sl'nuldei on. Floating y bodies for ships,'fo'r instance, can'beI made in together l1and piledl up whilst inserting metal tissue orffmetal `fo`ils Also in the case of wood'this prcessmay be' ap lied if a high i degree of fire-resistance is emanded. n V wood'engiarts'y wrapped'in this way, nails 85 .maybei riven in without utting an end to theprotection, because the oles of the metal layersproduced by the nails are filled out by the iron of the nail. AIn a similar way the I process may-be applied for organic insulati substances made of cork or peat, cotton,

il tress and the like by wrapping every oneof the arts of the material'mostly employed int e form of plates, cork pipe coverings, tresses Hor speclal pieces with metal tissue or' metal foils so t at there are no;

uantities of material c ohering for longer istances, but there are always' successivel separating layers consisting of thin meta In this behalf, not alwaysan al1-around 150 such a manner that cork plates are packed 8b wrapping is necessary, but itis sumcient if in those places where the individual parts ofthe material cohere, thementioned thin metal layers are arranged. A complete 5 wrapping with foil, however,has the further -by-elfect of preventing the of fresh air. In the case of or anic substances servin for increasing the uoyancy of ships an other vessels the complete water-tight wrapping with foil has the further advantage -that the organic substance will not be soaked with water and will retain, therefore, a higher buoyancy. Especially well suited for l5 the above-mentioned purpose are tiues and foils made of aluminum, because this metal f' has la very high heat conductivity and does not permit any local raising of the temperature; it is also not expensive, is resistant against chemical influences and can easily be worked.- Other metals, however, such as copper or iron, can also be applied for the same process. By way of example the invention is re '25 resented 1n Figs. 1 and 2. Fi 1 shows t e application for the float o an airplane wherein a is the outer skin of the float which is filled with ieces of cork b the latter being subdivide by means of thin metal tis- $0 sue or metal foils c. Fig. 2 is an a plication for pipe insulations wherein d lis t e'pipe, b are the insulating coverings, for instance, consisting of cork each of them being wra ed with metal tissue or metal foils. 85 In t 1s case the wra pin is confined t0 the exterior surfaces an to t e frontal surfaces at which the individual .coverings cohere; the wrapping is usually not necessary at the inner surface lying upon the metal i 40 What I claim as m invention, ang eesire to secure by Letters atent, is-

1. A ire proof body consisting of compact-ly arranged members of combustible ma terial each covered by a-metallic fine mesh fabric. l

2. A fire proof body consisting of comgactly arranged members of combustible uo ant material each covered by a thin metallic foil. In testimony whereof I aix m si ature.

, ERNSTS ll In 

